A box for the Portuguese market | Momoyama period, 16th century

The Europeans began to arrive in Japan from the late 16th century for trade and Christian missions. To furnish the Christian churches in Japan and also for export, Japanese lacquer workers produced a variety of decorative lacquer chests, coffers, boxes and other furniture, as well as ceremonial religious objects. Namban lacquerwares are related to Kodaiji lacquer, a type of lacquerware made in Kyoto during the late Momoyama and early Edo periods, which is characterised by designs in gold hiramaki-e on a black ground. Western missionaries and merchants had opportunities to see Kodaiji lacquerwares and ordered the workshops to make the objects for them using the same design and techniques. Namban pieces, however, generally employ shell inlay, which is never found in Kodaiji works.

For more information on Namban lacquerware, see James C.Y. Watt and Barbara B. Ford, East Asian Lacquer: The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, (New York, 1991), p. 169-173; and for another chest, see Oliver Impey and Christiaan J. A. Jörg, Japanese Export Lacquer 1580 – 1850, (Amsterdam, 2005), pp. 143, no. 296, this example in the Royal Collection, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (INV. RCIN 39244).